Research In Motion is ready to launch its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet in an additional 16 markets.The tablet will be made available to customers in the U.K., Spain, Germany, Australia, and several other countries within the next 30 days, RIM said. Currently, the BlackBerry PlayBook is available only in the U.S. and Canada.
Unlike much of its competition, RIM's tablet focuses on enterprise customers first. The tablet boasts a 7-inch display and runs the company's new tablet operating system. It includes dual 1080p HD cameras for video conferencing and capture, and runs on a 1GHz dual-core processor. RIM's tablet comes in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB storage options, ranging in price from $499 to $699.
Those models are Wi-Fi-only. RIM plans to launch two 4G models later this year.
After its launch in April, the BlackBerry PlayBook performed relatively well on store shelves, reports suggested. Analyst Mike Abramsky from RBC Capital Markets said in April that RIM could have sold up to 50,000 BlackBerry PlayBook tablets on its launch day alone. Abramsky said that he expected RIM to ship 500,000 PlayBooks during its fiscal first quarter, which ended in May.
RIM plans to announce results for its first quarter next week.
Even if RIM hits the 500,000 shipments, the company will have a long way to go to catch up to Apple, the leader in the tablet space. At the Worldwide Developers Conference earlier this week, Apple said that it has sold 25 million iPad units since the tablet's launch last year.
RIM did not immediately respond to request for comment on when its tablet will launch more fully around the world, and what the pricing will be.
The full list of the locations in which the PlayBook will debut in the next month is this: the U.K., Spain, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, Mexico, Colombia, and Venezuela.
